The Ties That Bind
by Samantha20
Summary: BuffyWWE crossover. After Becoming 2 Buffy runs away to Los Angeles, but she doesn't realise that she will meet a handful of people who can give her a whole new future. Finally updated.
1. Chapter 1

The Ties That Bind.  
  
A/N: This is a first for me, a Buffy/WWE crossover. I love them, but almost no one writes them, so if you know of a site anywhere, or an archive, drop me line.  
  
Time for this is a little skewed, but hey, that's why this is fanfiction, not reality.  
  
Buffy timeline is after season 2, Becoming Part 2, while Buffy is in LA. Anne never happens, but it's all pulled into present day.  
  
Wrestling is kind of AU, but all the characters are there. Only major change is that John Cena is on the RAW roster.  
  
Throughout the story others refer to Buffy as Elizabeth, but in speaking I'm still calling her Buffy. Hope that doesn't confuse anyone.  
  
Anyway, happy reading, and let me know what you think.  
  
Samantha.  
  
"Hey little girl, watch what you're doing." A pair of hands closed around the weight she was lifting, and attempted to drag it back up and place it on its rest.  
  
"What are you doing?" Buffy asked the guy, finally relenting and letting him guide the bar back into it's cradle.  
  
"That thing is heavy, you should be more careful."  
  
Buffy sat up and looked at her 'helper', a tall well built guy with blonde hair. "I should be more careful lifting something that I'm quite comfortable lifting?" She asked. "No offense, but leave me alone."  
  
"You should have spotter here as well."  
  
"I don't need one. Look whatever your name is, just leave me alone."  
  
"You don't know who I am?"  
  
"Should I?" Buffy looked amused.  
  
"Hey Dave, come here and check this out."  
  
Buffy started when the tall, well built, dark haired man turned around, then managed to control herself. "If you're coming over to check me out, the door's down past reception. The owner doesn't take too kindly to staff mixing with clients."  
  
"You're a staff member?" The dark haired guy asked. "Aren't you a little young?"  
  
"No." She shook her head.  
  
"What do we have... here." A younger man sauntered over to them. "Hi, I'm Randy, you are?"  
  
"Not interested." Buffy told him. "By the way, did your parents hate you?"  
  
"You're kidding?" He stared at her in shock. "How can you not want this? Don't you know who I am?"  
  
"I don't care who you are. I'm not interested."  
  
"Shut down." The tall blonde guy chuckled.  
  
"If you don't like my name so much, what's yours?" Randy asked.  
  
"Elizabeth." Buffy answered, using the familiar alias she'd chosen. "You want to keep trying to pick me up, the door is down past reception, don't let it hit on you on the ass on you way out."  
  
"You're very feisty aren't you?"  
  
"Trust me when I say I'm too much for any of you to handle." Buffy just shrugged. "Please excuse me, I have to go and get ready for my next class."  
  
As she sat on the small stage, choosing the music she would use in her tae bo class.  
  
"Hey that was pretty funny over there, watching you take Randy down a couple of pegs."  
  
Buffy looked up to see a guy making himself comfortable as she sorted CDs into piles. "Can I help you with something?"  
  
"I thought you might want to come out for coffee with me, after you finish work that is, or on your next break."  
  
"No thank you, the door is down past reception, should you feel compelled to use it."  
  
"So that's a 'no'?"  
  
"What is it with people today who can't understand the world 'no'." She stood up and adjusted her top and sweat pants, pulling her hair up into a ponytail.  
  
"Would the two o'clock tae bo class please assemble in front of the stage." She called out, watching as eighteen or so people assembled on the mats. "Okay, who's done tae bo before?"  
  
A handful of people raised their hands.  
  
"Okay, so we'll start out with a basic warm up, get into it, and then do a proper cool down. Is everyone okay with that?"  
  
Everyone nodded.  
  
"Just before we start, does anyone have any medical conditions that I need to know about?"  
  
Not receiving a response, Buffy hit the music and began the warm up.  
  
She was pleased to note that by the time the class was over, everyone else looked a lot more worn out than she did.  
  
"Hey, thanks for the class."  
  
Buffy looked up to see two women, one blonde, one brunette, though her hair was heavily colored with red dye. "You're welcome."  
  
"Look what are you doing now?"  
  
"Shower, coffee, and then I have no idea." Buffy smiled.  
  
"So your name is Elizabeth, right?" The blonde asked. "I'm Trish, and this is Lita. Do you want to come out for a coffee with us? Saves you sitting alone, unless you're meeting someone."  
  
"No, I'm not meeting anyone, it would be nice. Just give me five minutes to get cleaned up and into street clothes." Buffy answered.  
  
"Wow, girl you look great." Lita smiled as Buffy walked out of the staff locker rooms.  
  
"I try." Buffy smiled as she ran her hands over her loose-cut jeans and comfortable t-shirt.  
  
"So do you know a good place to get coffee?" Trish asked, "Or should we get in a taxi and say 'take us to the best coffee in LA'?"  
  
Buffy laughed. "There's a great little place about five minutes walk from here. They serve all your coffee, and food as well, which I could use some of."  
  
"Sounds good to me." Lita smiled. "I'm always hungry after exercise."  
  
"Lead the way then."  
  
"Where are you ladies off to?" A big, bald man asked.  
  
"We're just going out for coffee Steve." Lita told him.  
  
"Can I have an address of where you're going please?"  
  
"In case I'm serial killer who preys on people she finds at the gym?" Buffy asked with a smile. "We're just heading down to a cafe on Tyne Street. Here's my phone number and address if they don't get back safely."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"So do you have a boyfriend?" Trish asked as the waitress walked away.  
  
Buffy shook her head. "No, not at the moment."  
  
"Bad break up?" Lita asked, "Because I can really sympathize."  
  
"Trust me you cannot sympathize with this one." Buffy shook her head.  
  
"I don't know, I've just had a pretty bad break up. My boyfriend dumped me on live TV."  
  
"Mine tried to kill all my friends and leave them for me to find." Buffy answered. "Things were great in the beginning, and he was great. Then he changed, and he got mean and I wanted so much to help him, for him to just be the same Angel that he was before, but I couldn't help him.  
  
He didn't want me to. Then he orchestrated an attack on my friends. He lured me away from them, and by the time I got back... One of my friends was dead, one missing and two were seriously injured, broken bones, head injuries. Another ran, as soon as they were attacked she just ran, and escaped unscathed.  
  
I found Kendra, my friend who had died lying in a pool of her own blood and I knew that she was already dead. Police came up behind me, and I was frightened because I knew that they'd think I'd done it.  
  
So I ran and spent the next few hours avoiding the law, and taking the fight to my ex-boyfriend. One of my friends was able to clear me of murder charges, but I couldn't deal anymore  
  
. When I left my house I had a huge fight with my mom. She couldn't understand that I had things to do. Things, responsibilities that were so important that I couldn't stay home, even if I'd wanted to." Buffy closed her eyes in pain, before continuing. "She told me that if I left I shouldn't think about coming back. So I didn't. I sent Angel to hell, and left."  
  
"You ran away from home?" Trish asked, "Before you seemed so much older, but now you seem so young. How old are you?"  
  
"Eighteen in a few months." Buffy shook her head. "Sometimes it feels like it was all so long ago, like it happened to someone else."  
  
"I don't know honey." Trish said to her. "I think that's how we reflect on the turning points in our lives. If we didn't have that feeling like it happened to someone else, then we wouldn't be the people we are today."  
  
"Hey ladies!" A voice greeted them, grabbing a chair and sitting down to join them.  
  
"Hey yourself." Lita chuckled. "Elizabeth this is Rob, Chris and John." She gestured to each of the three guys in turn.  
  
"You were the tae bo instructor weren't you?" Rob asked her.  
  
"Yeah." She smiled, "Elizabeth Summers."  
  
"That's kind of pretty. Chris Jericho." One of the other guys told her, holding his hand out to shake. "This chain wearing thug is John Cena."  
  
"It's nice to meet you too." Buffy told him, then looked down at her coffee stirring the sprinkling of chocolate with the tip of her finger, then licking the frothy milk off.  
  
"So I'll bet that tastes good, huh?"  
  
Buffy looked up in surprise at Jericho. "Something like that." She redirected her attention but found herself staring off into space.  
  
"Don't you just hate guys who are all tall dark, and broody?" John asked, glancing at what she was staring at, a guy who would easily have fitted his description.  
  
"You just described my ex-boyfriend." Buffy told him, "And everything I loved about him."  
  
John stared at her, looking remarkably like he wanted to melt into the floor.  
  
"Nice going Romeo." Rob chuckled, clapping John on the back.  
  
"So where are you from Elizabeth?" Chris asked.  
  
"I was born in Los Angeles if that's what you're asking." She answered. "My mom and dad divorced just before my freshman year of high school, so mom and I moved. I wasn't very well behaved at my previous school and they asked me not to return."  
  
"I remember getting into trouble in high school." Rob grinned. "I did a back flip off the school roof, and when I got up, half the school had seen it, and the other half were begging me to do it again. So I did."  
  
"I did some things that were significantly worse." Buffy shook her head. "I wasn't a very good student, and I... misbehaved a little."  
  
"Doesn't sound like anything I didn't do." Chris told her.  
  
"Trust me, you have not done some of the things I've done." She told him.  
  
"So where are your parents, or your mom at least, what's she do?" Rob asked.  
  
"Elizabeth has sort of left home." Trish explained.  
  
"Like you ran away?" John asked.  
  
"I look at it more as being in my own space." Buffy told them. "I was having a lot of problems at home, a lot of bad things happened, and once I finished it all, I left. I didn't want anyone to see how much pain I was in."  
  
"So you must be what like... eighteen?" Chris asked.  
  
"In a couple of months." Buffy answered. "It's not really a big deal to me. I have a good job, an apartment. Since I left I've needed a lot more solitude than I ever needed before."  
  
"You're pretty brave then." Rob told her. "I don't think I would have had the courage to do that."  
  
"It's not about courage." Buffy told him. "Very few things in this world are. Most often they're about stupidity, or about pain."  
  
"See now you've got me wondering about your age again." Trish shook her head. "I can't believe that you're so young, you say something like that I start to wonder."  
  
"I've seen a lot of things I wish I hadn't, and done a lot of things that I wish I could forget." Buffy told her. "Stuff like that makes you older, even if you don't want to be." She took a sip of her coffee and set the cup back down, looking at John for a second before speaking to everyone. "So you guys are all wrestlers?"  
  
"Yeah." Rob grinned. "You'd be about the right type for it too."  
  
"The right type huh?" She grinned at him. "What makes you say that?"  
  
"You're fast on your feet, and you're a trained fighter. Anyone who knows martial arts could see that while you were taking us through the tae bo class."  
  
"So I've been trained a little." Buffy shook her head. "I know how to kick ass better than anyone else I know. I had high school linebackers and quarterbacks afraid of me."  
  
"You're kidding?" John looked at her. "You couldn't be any more than five- five, one thirty pounds."  
  
"It's not the size that counts." Buffy told him. "It's the drive of the individual. I'm not afraid of a challenge."  
  
"Yeah you'd fit right in." Chris nodded.  
  
Completely out of the blue Buffy looked at John, something bordering on recognition in her eyes. "You remind me of him."  
  
"What?" John stared at her for a second, confused.  
  
"I don't know what it is about you, but you remind me of him." Buffy told him.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"My ex-boyfriend. Physically, you share almost no attributes, but there's just something in you that reminds me of him."  
  
"So what are you going to do with your life?" Rob asked, "Do you have any ambitions at all?"  
  
Buffy shrugged. "I never really had any. I never really made any firm plans about what I wanted to do with my life, I mean I have direction, but there's just nothing I really want to do with my life. Maybe I just haven't found the right thing yet."  
  
"Maybe." Lita nodded. "So you're going to stay in LA, once we're gone I mean."  
  
"Most likely." Buffy nodded. "Where else would a teenage runaway go but the city of lost angels?"  
  
"What if you came with us?" Trish said suddenly. "We don't have a personal trainer on tour with us anymore, so it's kind of a pain. We could talk to Vince and see if he'd hire you."  
  
"Then we could train you to be a wrestler." Chris told her. "We could give you a future."  
  
"One that I think you'll be very good at." Rob told her.  
  
"I don't know." Buffy began, "I barely know you."  
  
"We just met you." Lita told her, "But I feel like I've known you for a lot longer. So let us help you. You can't close yourself off from the world, Elizabeth. Sooner or later you're going to have to let it back in."  
  
"Let us help you." John said suddenly. "Let someone take care of you for once, I know it sounds patronizing, but you're just a kid. You shouldn't have to try and be a grown up yet. Let us protect you." He reached one hand out to her, waiting to see if she would take it.  
  
Buffy stared at him for moment, a look fleeting in her eyes that the others could quite name. Then she reached out and took hold of John's hand.  
  
"You got me for good now." John told her as he pulled her into an unexpected hug. 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Sorry about the slow updates, but I've been really busy, and I will try to update more frequently.  
  
Samantha  
  
"Should I be nervous about this?" Buffy asked Lita asked they walked down the hall.  
  
"Vince is a nice guy. He's the head of the company, but he's like a father to a lot of us. He looks out for us all, and I think he'll look out for you too."  
  
"Lita, there you are." A brunette said to Lita. "Daddy's waiting for you. This must be Elizabeth."  
  
"Elizabeth, this is Stephanie McMahon. She's Vince's daughter." Lita introduced them.  
  
"Hi." Buffy paused to shake her hand. "It's nice to meet you."  
  
"Likewise." Stephanie answered. "Go on in."  
  
"Ladies." Vince stood up from behind his desk to greet them.  
  
"Hi." Lita smiled at him. "Vince this is Elizabeth."  
  
"I'm told that you are quite the personal trainer." Vince said to her.  
  
"I do my best." Buffy answered. "I work hard and I enjoy my work."  
  
"Good." He nodded. "Now you must know that I have some concerns about your age. I've been told that you're only seventeen."  
  
"I'll be eighteen in just a few months." Buffy told him, "But if you think that my age means that I'm inexperienced, ask any of the wrestlers who were in my tae bo class yesterday, or dancercise, aerobics step and weight classes today."  
  
"You want to let you performance speak for itself?" Vince asked.  
  
"I've never had anyone fault my performance before, and I've been concentrating on fitness for a long time, my own personal fitness mostly, but I know how to teach people. I can keep your people fit, I can teach them weapons, quarter staff, swords, hell I can teach them to throw and catch knives. I'm very good at what I do."  
  
"You can throw knives?" Vince asked, looking a little shocked.  
  
"I can juggle them if you want me to." When she spoke Vince realized that she was completely serious.  
  
"So if I hired you, what else could you bring to us, any qualities, other skills you have?"  
  
"I can play the piano, and the violin, I sing, I'm not really good in the book department, but I have life experience that could possibly help your people out in some ways. I work hard, I know what I'm doing, there's nothing you can throw at me that I will be afraid of."  
  
"Is there anything else?"  
  
"I'm five foot five, one-thirty pounds at most. Cute, blonde, a former high school cheerleader." She added. "And I know more about responsibility than anyone else I've ever met."  
  
"Really?" That made Vince sit up and look at her.  
  
"I've died for my responsibilities." Buffy told him. "Literally, I drowned once, and my heart stopped, so I was legally dead. I have always had my responsibilities take precedence over any semblance of a normal life, which at times has made things incredibly difficult for me."  
  
"Do you regret that?" Vince asked.  
  
"I can't regret my life." Buffy told him. "I know that I'm only seventeen, but I know what I'm doing, I'm trained in half a dozen different fight styles and I guess right now I'm really looking for a direction in my life. I need something to be working for, or to. I think that I can get that out of working for the WWE, and I think that I can just enjoy being myself without any inhibitions for once. It's not easy growing up when you know that you can't just be yourself."  
  
"You seem like a driven young lady." Vince told Buffy. "Are you sure you're only seventeen?"  
  
"I'm an old seventeen." She answered.  
  
"Now I suppose the only concern left for me to voice is how well you deal with men. We have a lot of hot heads; some of them are incredibly arrogant. Are you sure you can handle working with them?"  
  
"I've just come out of a relationship that tore me up inside completely." Buffy told him. "I'm not in the market for anyone new, and from experience I am well-versed in the art of getting men to leave me alone. I'm here to work, not screw around, and not find another relationship. Just work."  
  
"I watched her handle three members of Evolution, and then give Christian the brush off." Lita smiled. "I think she'll be fine in that regard. Plus Elizabeth has John Cena at her back. Not too many people will mess with her if she has him around."  
  
"I've been informed of your current home situation, and I think you're very brave to just set out on your own. I don't know many of my superstars who would do that even now. You seem like you know what you're doing, and I haven't spoken to anyone yet who can fault your performance as a personal trainer. So I say yes. I'm going to hire you. Trial period of two weeks, if at the end of that time I find that you are not suitable to our needs you will be flown back to Los Angeles. If, and I hope that I do come to realize that you fit in well with us, then I will offer you an extended contract, and with your experience in 'fight styles' as you call them, I would hope that you consider training as a wrestler."  
  
Buffy smiled at him. "Thank you very much, Mr. McMahon."  
  
"Will you be ready to leave with us tomorrow?" He asked.  
  
Buffy's eyes widened.  
  
"It's okay." Lita came to the rescue. "I don't have to perform until the house show in Tucson, so I could hang around here for a couple of extra days, and help Elizabeth get packed up and on a plane. If that's okay with you."  
  
"I think it's a great idea." Vince nodded. "And I will make sure someone meets you at the airport in Tucson. Lita I have your cell phone number, I will call and notify you of any changes." 


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I will update more often I will update more often.  
  
Read and review guys, I've got the next couple of parts written so you all depend on how fast they come out.  
  
Thanks everyone, and I hope I'm writing this in a vaguely believable way.  
  
Samantha.  
  
"Are you nervous?" Lita asked as they waited for their flight to be called.  
  
"Sort of." Buffy looked at her. "I was never big on flying."  
  
Lita chuckled. "You'll be fine, trust me. I'm an old hat at this, and Steph got us good airline seats.  
  
Sometimes Vince tries to dump us in economy, but today we're flying first class."  
  
"Great." Buffy managed a smile. "So do you usually travel incognito?" She gestured to Lita's hat, scarf and sunglasses.  
  
"Sometimes, only when I don't really want to be recognized."  
  
"Flight 147 to Tucson, Arizona is boarding now." A voice called over the loud speakers.  
  
"That's us." Lita grabbed her backpack and smiled. "Come on."  
  
At the gate Lita grabbed hold of Buffy's hand so that they were able to stay together in the crowd.  
  
"Hold on to me." Lita told her. "But if we get separated, go to the information desk in the baggage claim area."  
  
"We're not getting separated." Buffy told her, tightening her grip on Lita's hand.  
  
In the baggage area Lita was able to grab their luggage with ease, while Buffy looked around to see if there was anyone waiting for them.  
  
"Come on." Lita shrugged her sports bag onto her shoulder. "Let's get out of the crush and see who's meeting us."  
  
"Sounds good to me." Buffy smiled nervously.  
  
"Ladies!" A voice called out, sounding strangely familiar. "I'm throwing up the 'W'!"  
  
"Is he trying to stand out in the crowd?" Buffy asked as she caught sight of John, wearing a bright green sports jersey, and a matching cap, his arms up in the air in his 'Word Life' pose.  
  
"No that's just John being John." Lita grinned. "He's a bit of thug, but he's a real sweetheart, and he's taken a liking to you."  
  
"What?" Buffy stopped moving to stare at her.  
  
"He thinks you a great girl, but it's more like a little sister thing." Lita explained, seeing Buffy calm instantly.  
  
"Girls, we've been missing you." He put an arm around each of them.  
  
"Then you can take some of our bags." Buffy told him mischievously, a little surprised when he nodded and grabbed one of her suitcases, and Lita's too.  
  
"How was the flight?"  
  
"Fine." Lita smiled. "Elizabeth almost ended up in my lap during take off."  
  
"I don't like flying much." Buffy defended herself.  
  
"That's cool babe. Don't stress." He told her. "Come on, the car's this way."  
  
"Hey babe." Rob called out in the hallway, making Buffy, Lita and John stop and turn around.  
  
"Yeah, I knew I'd recognize that blonde head." Rob said to them as he jogged over to give Buffy a hug. "How was the flight?"  
  
"I hate flying." Buffy told him.  
  
Rob and John both cracked up.  
  
"Hey, who's your new friend?" A tall bald headed man with a Texan accent walked over to them.  
  
"Steve, this is Elizabeth." Lita told him. "She's our new personal trainer."  
  
"It's nice to meet you." Buffy said to him.  
  
To everyone's surprise he smiled. "You too. Vince told me a lot about you. I look forward to seeing you working with everyone, especially in the ring."  
  
"What's everyone's obsession with me and wrestling?" Buffy asked, looking slightly bewildered.  
  
"We can see something in you." Rob told her. "There's a spark that only the greatest have, and you have this fire and drive that just amazes us all."  
  
"That thing that you think you see in me, chances are it's just an illusion, or something passing quickly through." Buffy shook her head.  
  
"What makes you say that?" Steve asked.  
  
"I'm not like other girls, and once you've seen me go for it, you might not like what you see."  
  
To her complete surprise, Steve grinned at her. "I think we need to get you in the ring."  
  
"I don't know how to wrestle." Buffy put her hands up defensively. "Spar yes, wrestle no."  
  
"Then we'll spar." Rob told her. "Lita'll show you where you can change, and I'll spar with you. I have a pretty unorthodox style, so you should be okay. I'll even go easy on you."  
  
Buffy laughed out loud. "You want to go easy on me?" She shook her head, shoulders still shaking with silent laughter.  
  
"Come on, you can change then we'll see." Lita told her. "The diva's locker room is just up here."  
  
"I can spar in these clothes." Buffy told her, gesturing to her jeans and t- shirt.  
  
"It's better if you change." Rob told her, "Then nothing will get accidentally ripped."  
  
"Whatever." Buffy allowed Lita to drag her off towards the diva's locker room.  
  
"Elizabeth, welcome to the diva's locker room." Lita told her, opening the door with a flourish.  
  
"Lita! Elizabeth!" Trish squealed. "I thought you were never going to get here."  
  
"We made it." Buffy smiled at her. "And now I've been roped into sparring with Rob Van Dam."  
  
"Good." Trish smiled. "We all want to see what you can do."  
  
"I have to change."  
  
"Grab a locker." Lita shrugged, "You'll be in here with us anyway."  
  
"Where did you get some of those scars?" Trish asked as Buffy stripped her button down shirt off. "God, that one on your neck!"  
  
"Angry puppy." Buffy answered.  
  
"Must have been a big puppy." Trish shook her head as Buffy pulled a short tank top on over her bra. "Something like that." Buffy pulled on a pair of drawstring sweats and jammed her feet into a pair of trainers.  
  
"Cute." Lita grinned. "You really don't look like a high school student."  
  
"Hey girls, who's this?" A tall blonde woman with incredibly long legs walked into the room, a huge smile on her face.  
  
"This is Elizabeth." Trish told her. "I was telling you about her, she's our new personal trainer."  
  
"It's nice to meet you Elizabeth, I'm Stacy Keibler."  
  
"Hi." Buffy answered.  
  
"Hey ladies." Rob stuck his head around the door.  
  
"One of us could have been changing fool." Lita smacked him in the head. "Knock first."  
  
"You haven't got anything I haven't seen before." He shrugged. "Elizabeth, are you ready?"  
  
"Are you?" She asked in reply, a confidence in her voice that the others hadn't heard before as she followed Rob out of the room and towards the ring.  
  
"Ooooh, challenge." Stacy smiled. "Do I want to watch this?"  
  
"I think so." Lita nodded. 


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Update!!! Sorry, I'm so busy lately. I just got myself another job so between that and the rest of my life, I have no time, and I'm suffering from about twenty different, and completely unrelated cases of writer's block.  
  
It's rather disturbing, but with a bit of luck, all the press for the new Harry Potter movie should get me back in the frame to start writing my Harry Potter ff again.  
  
God I hate writer's block. I can't seem to get rid of any of it.  
  
Samantha.  
  
"So how's this going to work?" Buffy asked as she and Rob stood in the ring, looking at each other.  
  
"What do you mean? Show me what you've got."  
  
"You want us to go at it without any kind of rules? You're braver than I thought."  
  
"Okay," Rob began, "No low blows, or direct shots to the face. Keep it in the ring, but you are allowed on the turnbuckles, ring posts."  
  
"When you've had enough, just say give." Buffy nodded, completely serious, "And do us both a favor, don't hold back."  
  
He stared at her for a second, before she made the first move, a simple lunge that he blocked easily, but as they fought Rob was startled to think that rather than trying to win, she was testing his abilities, and assessing his strengths and weaknesses in a way the he'd never been evaluated during a fight before.  
  
"You're holding back." She told him, as he lunged at her, while she countered, using his own momentum to drive him into the mat.  
  
He groaned heavily as he landed, pulling himself back to his feet to meet her onslaught of kicks and punches, only some of which he found himself able to block, until he rushed her backwards into the ropes, and she bounced back towards him, then disappeared, sliding straight under him, and twisting one arm up behind his back as she swept his feet out from under him, knocking him flat, while still maintaining her hold.  
  
"Damn." Someone said from outside the ring as Buffy let him go.  
  
"Do you want to keep going?" She asked as Rob lay there, before leaning over to help him up.  
  
"Where in hell did you learn to fight?"  
  
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Buffy smiled, not even winded. "Do you give up?"  
  
He shook his head.  
  
"Okay." She grinned at him, and Rob could not believe it, they were sparring, and he was almost getting his ass kicked, and she was grinning.  
  
For several seconds Rob felt as though he had the upper hand, countering some of her assaults with moves that were unorthodox, even for him.  
  
Then to his shock he felt himself thrown down onto his back from nowhere, Elizabeth straddling him and pinning his arms above his head, just staring at him for a moment, and as she did so Rob could see a strange look in her eyes, not predatory, but something he couldn't quite name.  
  
"Done." She announced to the others, letting him up.  
  
"You fight like nothing I have ever seen before." Rob told her, rubbing his jaw where several of her blows had connected.  
  
"Damn." John just stared at her for a second.  
  
"I told you not to go easy on me." Buffy shrugged. "I know how to handle myself in a fight."  
  
"What sort of training background have you had?" Steve asked, looking a little surprised at her performance, but keeping himself in check.  
  
"This and that. Ballet, little bit of self defense in high school, and some private lessons in targets and weapons. Kicking ass, taking names." She chuckled. "I think the best fight I was even in was against my ex- boyfriend. He taught me a lot too. He knew all different kinds of martial arts katas, and styles. I know that he traveled extensively through Asia, and Europe too. He was very formidable in his day, and I was his student for close on two years."  
  
"You must be a good student." John shook his head.  
  
Rob nodded. "Now I don't just want to train you, I want to learn from you."  
  
"If you like." Buffy nodded.  
  
"You think you're all that?" Another voice asked.  
  
"I don't need to think it." She answered, looking up a bit to look into the speaker's face. "I know it."  
  
"Hunter Hearst-Helmsley." He nodded and Buffy knew that was his way of introducing himself.  
  
"Elizabeth Summers." Buffy smiled. "Would you like to go a couple of rounds with me?"  
  
He laughed at her, clearly finding the idea amusing.  
  
"Dude I would not be laughing." Rob told him. "Elizabeth is a serious competitor."  
  
"Really?" He looked her up and down. "So you think you're all that?"  
  
"Even got my own mantra." She answered. "Kick ass nickname, and a sweet smile. You can't ask for more than that. So get in the ring."  
  
He looked a little surprised as she got back up on the apron, and hooked her arms around the top rope, throwing herself over backwards to land lightly on her feet, inside the ring. "I've wanted to do that since I saw these ropes. We used screw around with that sort of stuff in gym."  
  
"Exactly how old are you?" Hunter asked, looking a little surprised at her words.  
  
"Seventeen, you?" She shot back.  
  
Hunter just shook his head and slid into the ring to stand opposite her. "You've got to be kidding me right?"  
  
"You're the one who got in the ring." Buffy told him. "Now do something before I die of old age."  
  
Half-heartedly he threw a fist at her, which she blocked easily, then exceeded it with one of her own to his jaw, making him stagger.  
  
"You'll have to do better than that." She told him, waiting for Hunter to make another move, which he did, grabbing her hand and whipping her into the ropes, then putting his arm out to clothesline her, but as she bounced back she grabbed hold of his arm, dropping suddenly, allowing her full weight to jerk his arm down, making him cry out in pain, and shock.  
  
She let go and stood over him, "That's enough."  
  
"I know she's not trained, but she's got more natural talent than I have ever seen before." Shawn Michaels was telling Steve, and several of the others.  
  
"Anyone I know?" Buffy asked with a grin as she walked over to them.  
  
"You are a very special young lady. I'm Shawn Michaels."  
  
"I know who you are. I saw the ladders match at you were in against Razor Ramon at WrestleMania something."  
  
Buffy waved her hands expressively. "What is it with people? I go somewhere and they all act like I'm the Chosen One." She laughed at her own joke while Lita, Trish and John chuckled.  
  
"Seriously, I can't be that special." Buffy told them. "I haven't been trained properly, and both those guys started out going easy on me. It's almost insulting."  
  
Lita managed to laugh. "You're a good person Elizabeth, though for the life of me I cannot work out why you're so modest. You just kicked the asses of two guys who have never had their asses kicked by a woman."  
  
"Sounds like a regular day." Buffy rolled her eyes.  
  
"Will you go out with me?" Randy Orton worked his way into the center of the group to speak to Elizabeth.  
  
"No thank you." She answered. "I'm not dating at the moment."  
  
"Not dating at the moment?" Just about everyone stopped to stare at her.  
  
"My ex-boyfriend tried to kill all my friends and end my world." Buffy shrugged. "I'm not interested in dating at the moment."  
  
"Are you sure you haven't had any proper training?" A tall white haired man asked.  
  
"This is Ric Flair by the way." Trish explained.  
  
"Girl, you wrestle like no one I've ever seen, not heavyweights, lightweights, cruiserweights, divas, no one."  
  
"There's only one of me, and it's going to stay that way." She answered him. "I do my own thing, and it keeps me alive. And don't call me girl. It's insulting."  
  
"Elizabeth." Steve interrupted.  
  
"I'm sorry." She answered. "It's not like I really wanted to kick anyone's ass, but you all told me too."  
  
"Sweetheart, if you can do that all the time, then you can have anything you want in this business." He told her, "And I am not joking."  
  
"Looks like you've really found something you're good at." John smiled at her.  
  
"So you can get changed, then we might see about heading over to the hotel and just chilling out for a little while." Trish told her.  
  
"I should check and see if I have a schedule or something." Buffy told her. "Who should I talk to about that?"  
  
"Steve." Lita told her. "We can stop off and see him on the way out."  
  
"Sounds good to me." Buffy nodded.  
  
"Hey girls." Several voices greeted them from inside the diva's locker room.  
  
"Hey." Trish answered. "Everyone, this is Elizabeth, she's the new personal trainer."  
  
"Elizabeth, this is Victoria, or Tor, Ivory, Molly, Gail, Jazz, Jacqui, Jacqueline and Lillian." Lita gestured to everyone as she spoke. "Guys Elizabeth's in with us."  
  
"We just had her out in the ring." Stacy said walking up behind them. "Elizabeth, Steve asked me to bring you this. It's some kind of note."  
  
"Cool, thanks." Buffy accepted the paper from her.  
  
"Who did you wrestle?" Victoria asked.  
  
"I can't wrestle." Buffy told her. "Everyone seems to think I can, but I can't. I can only spar."  
  
"Wrestle or not, you still kicked Rob's ass." Trish told her, "And he wasn't ashamed to admit it."  
  
"Hunter didn't look too happy though." Lita smiled.  
  
"Wait a second." A shorthaired brunette said, "You just kicked Rob Van Dam's ass?"  
  
"Hunter's too." Buffy smiled, and then paused to read the note Steve had sent her. "Okay this is pretty cool. Make up my own class times."  
  
"Seriously?" One of the other blondes, Lillian said.  
  
"Yeah, I might just manage to catch up on some sleep." Buffy smiled again. "I really need to catch up on that."  
  
"So you're not a morning person?" Stacy asked.  
  
"Oh I'm a morning person." Buffy nodded. "At like 3 a.m. I'm a morning person. After a good eight or ten hours sleep I'm a morning, afternoon, evening, and night person."  
  
Trish chuckled, but Lita eyed her skeptically. "You don't seem to sleep well though."  
  
"I haven't in months." Buffy said to her. "It's just dreams and memories. They wake me up."  
  
"What kinds of dreams?" Gail asked. "As a psych major in college I'm qualified to say 'hmm'."  
  
"Generally, me killing my ex-boyfriend, or him killing me. Dreams start out somewhere like the beach, or the Mansion, and we talk, sometimes it's like he's Angel, then he changes. He accuses me of not loving him enough, or he tells me that I wasn't good enough. Then there's always blood, sometimes I stab him with a sword, sometimes he stabs me, or he has my ring and he squeezes it and it turns to blood, just runs down his hand, I generally wake up at that point. Are you going hmm yet?"  
  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." The Asian diva told her.  
  
"All of that's kind of still with me at the moment." Buffy shook her head. "I shouldn't be so jumpy."  
  
"Anyway, it's nice to meet you."  
  
"Likewise."  
  
"Ladies, cover up what you don't want seen." A guy called out as he opened the door.  
  
"Do you guys ever knock?" Stacy asked him.  
  
"No." John told her. "We just tell you to cover up what you don't want seen."  
  
"John." Buffy began, walking over to him. "I think we need to have a little chat."  
  
"Really?" He asked. "About what?"  
  
"This." She answered. "You can't just walk in here, I mean what if I was getting changed? I'm seventeen years old, and I'm new at this, so I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea that guys just walk in here. So if you wouldn't mind explaining to the other guys, that if one of them decides to barge in here, much the same way you just did, without knocking, I'm not going to be happy."  
  
"Gotcha." He nodded. "Knock first, enter second."  
  
"Good boy." Buffy smiled. "Now get out while we get changed."  
  
He nodded and left as quickly as he'd arrived.  
  
"You have got to teach the rest of us that." Victoria told her.  
  
"It's all about the way you tell them." Buffy shrugged. "I don't think we'll have too many problems in the future."  
  
"Plus he just watched you kick two guys asses with a smile on your face." Lita chuckled. 


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Okay so I have a few more gaps to fill in before I post again, but after that I have about forty chapters written. Sorry about the lack of updates, but I've been really busy with work, and writing some of my other stories, so again, sorry.  
  
Samantha.  
  
"Guys! I'm here!" Lita called out as she walked into a suite. "Or I should say, 'we're here!'"  
  
"Lita!" A guy with dark blonde hair appeared in front of them, reaching out to hug Lita. "You must be Elizabeth, I'm Matt Hardy." He offered his hand for her to shake.  
  
"It's nice to meet you."  
  
"Matt's my boyfriend." Lita explained. "We got back together the other night, so we're sharing a suite with Matt and his younger brother Jeff."  
  
"Okay." Buffy nodded.  
  
"Jeffery!" Matt shouted, "Come out here and be sociable!"  
  
Buffy looked a little surprised when another guy, this one with blue, green and purple hair appeared.  
  
"Elizabeth, this is Jeff. Jeff, Elizabeth." Lita introduced them.  
  
"I'm uh, I'm going to help Lita with her stuff." Matt said, sounding a little distracted.  
  
"Come on." Jeff said to Buffy. "Let's go into the other room and play video games or something."  
  
Without knowing what else to do Buffy followed him.  
  
"So what's their story, Matt's and Lita's I mean?" Buffy asked as they sat down, Jeff turning on a game console.  
  
"He dumped her, because he's a real jerk when he wants to be. Then the other night he called her and asked her to take him back, and she said okay. They go through this sort of thing a lot." Jeff told her, concentrating on the TV screen. "Do you know how to play?" He gestured to the screen.  
  
Buffy shook her head. "What is it?"  
  
"Here Comes the Pain. It's a wrestling game." Jeff gave her a strange look. "Grab the other controller, and I'll teach you."  
  
He spent a couple of minutes explaining how the game worked, then put a match on between two characters, Triple H, and Goldberg, with Buffy playing Goldberg.  
  
"This isn't fair!" She exclaimed as Triple H almost pinned Goldberg. "I don't know what this guys moves are!"  
  
"Just push the buttons then!" Jeff told her, clearly enjoying himself. "So where are you from?"  
  
She looked over at him for a moment, a little surprised as his question had come out of nowhere. "I was born in Los Angeles."  
  
"But where are you from?"  
  
"Sunnydale, Southern California."  
  
"Sounds like a happy place." Jeff answered, making Triple H throw three or four punches in quick succession.  
  
"Sunnyhell would be a better name for it."  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
"It's the mouth of Hell." She answered seriously, and Jeff stared at her for a moment, as though he wasn't sure whether or not she was really serious, or just having him on.  
  
"Is that why you ran away?"  
  
"Part of it."  
  
"You're not a big talker, are you?" Jeff paused the game abruptly.  
  
"Sometimes." Buffy managed a smile. "Sometimes I don't know when to be quiet."  
  
"Well, in case everyone's forgotten to say it, it's nice to meet you, and good to have you here. Lita's only had good things to say about you. Welcome to the WWE."  
  
"Thank you." She smiled.  
  
"Hey Jeff, have you seen Elizabeth?" Lita asked a while later as she and Matt emerged from their room.  
  
"She went to the vending machine." Jeff answered distractedly.  
  
"When?" Matt asked.  
  
"I don't know, a while ago." Jeff dropped his controller. "Yeah, it would have been a while ago."  
  
"Well come and help us look for her." Lita told him, giving him a quick shove.  
  
"Hey Trish!" Lita called out, "Have you seen..."  
  
Trish shushed her gesturing further into the room where Elizabeth sat in front of a piano, playing a pretty little song, which she then began to sing to, accompanying herself well.  
  
"She's so good." Trish told the trio. "She doesn't even need music to read from."  
  
"How long has she been down here?" Matt asked.  
  
"About half an hour now." John added. "We were talking, Lizzie, me and Trish, and she sort of went, 'oh god, they've got a piano.' She hasn't budged since, and I think she's endeared herself to just about everyone else on the roster. Even the Dudley Boyz seem to be getting along okay with her. She played a duet with Bubba before."  
  
"Why are there so many songs about rainbows?  
  
And what's on the other side?  
  
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions  
  
And rainbows have nothing to hide  
  
Someday we'll find it  
  
The rainbow connection  
  
The lovers, the dreamers, and me."  
  
"The song's kind of sad though." Jeff observed, "And I know I don't know her very well, but she says some weird things."  
  
"Just every so often." Lita nodded. "I'll never forget the look on John's face when she told him that he reminded her of her ex-boyfriend."  
  
"For real?" D-Von Dudley interrupted.  
  
"She said that they look nothing alike, but John reminds Elizabeth..."  
  
"Lizzie." John corrected Trish.  
  
"Who said that every wish  
  
Would be heard and answered,  
  
When wished on the morning star?  
  
Somebody thought of that  
  
And someone believed it  
  
And look what it's done so far  
  
What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing  
  
And what do we think we might see  
  
Someday we'll find it  
  
The rainbow connection  
  
The lovers, the dreamers, and me."  
  
"Lizzie?" Lita stared at John for a moment.  
  
"She likes it." He answered with a shrug, "And Elizabeth is a very long name."  
  
"John reminds her of her ex-boyfriend." Lita finished.  
  
"It's such a pretty song." Stacy smiled as they looked over at Elizabeth again.  
  
"She's definitely got some skills." Bubba nodded. "I mean I had lessons, but this girl just has skill, she just plays, straight off the top of her head full songs, and doesn't miss a beat."  
  
"Have you been half asleep?  
  
And have you heard voices?  
  
I've heard them calling my name  
  
Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?  
  
The voice might be one and the same  
  
I've heard it too many times to ignore it  
  
It's something that I'm supposed to be  
  
Someday we'll find it,  
  
The rainbow connection  
  
The lovers, the dreamers, and me."  
  
"That was beautiful." Lita told her. "You really are very talented."  
  
"Thank you." Buffy blushed slightly.  
  
"You make that look so easy." John told her. "How do you remember everything?"  
  
"Practice?" She shrugged. "Same way anyone learns anything."  
  
"So where's that song from?" Jeff asked, "It's kind of cool."  
  
"I don't know where it's from exactly." Buffy admitted. "I do know that it's fairly old though. My grandmother taught me to play it when I was... younger."  
  
"So what's your name sweetheart?" Christian asked.  
  
"Elizabeth, darling." She answered, feeling a little sarcastic.  
  
"Take it easy." He put his hands up defensively.  
  
"You want to keep that tone, keep your hands up." Buffy advised him. "Otherwise you might just swallow your front teeth."  
  
"Elizabeth!" Lita exclaimed, "You can't just walk around..."  
  
"I'm sitting down." Buffy interrupted.  
  
"You can't just tell people you're going to knock their teeth down their throats." She finished.  
  
"I'm immature, sue me."  
  
"What's the matter?" John asked, "You're acting weird."  
  
"I'm feeling kind of wired. Does someone want to come do something with me?"  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Anything, dancing, swimming, go for a walk around, sightseeing, anything."  
  
"It might be a little bit late for some of those." Trish told her tactfully, "And little early for some of the others."  
  
"I'll even settle for something stupid." Buffy cajoled them. "Miniature golf, tenpin bowling, Japanese bush pruning."  
  
"Kiddo, you must be bored." Jericho shook his head.  
  
"Didn't I just say that?"  
  
"Not in so many words." Steve answered, looking amused.  
  
"Come on, I'm seventeen years old, and I have energy to burn, and lots of it." She smiled, and paused to wait for their reaction.  
  
"Let's go." John nodded. "Can you drive?"  
  
"Are you crazy?"  
  
"You don't know how to drive?" He asked.  
  
"I took the classes, watched the videos, but I wasn't allowed to do the practical. My mom didn't think I was ready."  
  
"So we could get you a permit and give you a driving lesson." John chuckled. "Or, we could think of something a little more fun, and..."  
  
"Ice skating." Stacy grinned. "Come on everyone, we haven't been for ages, and it's always a lot of fun."  
  
"Can you ice skate?" Matt asked Buffy.  
  
"Since I was a little girl." Buffy smiled, suddenly lost in memory, then felt the familiar pangs as she remembered ice skating with Angel.  
  
"Are you okay?" Jeff asked, noting Elizabeth's change of expression.  
  
"Yeah, fine." She managed. "I'll go get my stuff, and meet you back here." Buffy left them abruptly, finding that she needed to gather her thoughts.  
  
"I told you that she's a strange girl." Jeff told the others, "That was a complete one-eighty. One second she looked like she'd won the lottery, and the next, it was like someone told her that her puppy died."  
  
"There's a lot that we don't know about her." Trish admitted. "But she's a good person."  
  
"Good kid." Hunter corrected her.  
  
"She does the transition pretty well, doesn't she." Steve chuckled. "I think things will be a little different around here, now that we have Elizabeth around."  
  
"Damn straight." John chuckled. "This is going to be very interesting."  
  
"I'm ready." Buffy paused in the doorway about five minutes later.  
  
"That was quick." Jeff chuckled. "How'd you change so fast?"  
  
"Logic. Warm, comfortable clothes." Buffy answered, "And mittens too."  
  
"You are so cute." Jericho grinned at Elizabeth.  
  
"That's so sweet." She answered, "Let's go, before I spontaneously combust." 


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I know that this is short, but it has a purpose, I'm still filling in gaps with this story, so while I am trying to fill them, some of those gaps are leaving me mystified.  
  
(I've never written an extended story fully as it appears; I always seem to say 'this is what's going to happen in the future' and then write that as it comes into my head.)  
  
Anyway, let me know what you think, inspire me, all that jazz,  
  
Thanks,  
  
Samantha.  
  
"Do you need to hire some skates?" Jericho asked at the entrance of the ice rink.  
  
"Got my own." Buffy answered, gesturing to her backpack. "What about everyone else?"  
  
"Everyone else hires them." He told her, "But I've got my own too, let's get out there. The others will just meet us on the ice."  
  
"Great." She smiled and followed Chris into the rink.  
  
As they sat on the benches, pulling their skates on, Chris watched her carefully, her confidence as she pulled her skates on, lacing them carefully, and the calm, relaxed expression on her face.  
  
"You ready?" Buffy asked, looking up.  
  
"Almost." Chris lowered his gaze to his left skate and finished doing up the clips. "So you've done figure skating before? I mean your skates are..."  
  
"Yeah." Buffy nodded. "When I was younger I loved it. There was nothing better than getting out on the ice."  
  
"So let's go." He got to his feet, stepping carefully on the thick rubber matting, and took her by the hand.  
  
Out on the ice Buffy transformed, moving fluidly, almost effortlessly over the ice for a couple of laps, then skated back to Chris's side. "So how come you have your own ice skates?"  
  
"My dad mostly." He answered, moving easily. "He played professional ice hockey, so when I was growing up I guess that influenced me. I learned how to ice skate because he taught me."  
  
"That sounds nice." Buffy smiled, and turned easily so that she was skating backwards.  
  
Chris put his hands out so that she could grab hold of them, "I'll tell you when the turn is."  
  
Buffy nodded, and reached out to take his hands her grip secure.  
  
"Okay, start turning." Chris advised her. "That's it..." He gasped as she pulled him into a tight spin, her hold making them spiral around, until she slowed them and Chris was skating backwards, the pair of them laughing at the rush.  
  
"How did you know how to do that?"  
  
"I did figure skating." She answered with a smile.  
  
"Nice trick." Matt called out from beside the rink. "Do you know anymore?"  
  
"One or two." Buffy blushed slightly, and then let go of Chris. "Race you over there?" Without waiting for his reply she took off across the ice, leaving him in her wake.  
  
Just before she hit the wall, Buffy slid her skates around, turning her body so that she faced Chris, the change in momentum slowing her almost completely.  
  
"Someone's got some skills." Stacy smiled as she stepped gingerly out on the ice.  
  
"I try." Buffy nodded. "I'm out of practice."  
  
"If that's out of practice, then I would love to see you in practice." Jeff told her.  
  
"Maybe you will." She answered, "Do you guys need any help?"  
  
"Nah," Jericho shook his head. "Come on, I'll race you to other side."  
  
"Okay." She nodded, as he began to count.  
  
"On your marks... Get set... Go!" At Chris's word, they both started skating hard, each wanting to beat the other.  
  
"She's good." Trish said quietly.  
  
"There's so much we don't know about here though." Lita answered, "I mean I know she opened up to me a little more while we were still in LA, but there's just so much we don't know."  
  
"You like her though." Matt nodded.  
  
"Yeah, she's a great girl, and I think she's going to make us all proud of her." The red head nodded. "Look at how well she gets on with Chris, like they've known each other for so much longer."  
  
"You can't help but feel comfortable around her." Stacy nodded, "Now come on, we don't Chris and Elizabeth having all the fun. 


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.

Samantha.

"I think she's exhausted." Victoria smiled as she glanced at the sleeping blonde.

"She's had a big day." John defended her.

"She certainly plays hard." Jericho chuckled.

"Here." John leaned over to scoop up Elizabeth's sleeping form. "I'll take her up to bed."

"I'll come with you." Lita told him.

Lita smiled at the sleeping girl as she turned out the light. They had only just met, but Lita was proud to know her, although an annoying voice inside her head reminded her that though she knew more about Elizabeth than the others, she still knew almost nothing about the girl.

As she watched Elizabeth, the girl turned onto her back, one hand reaching for something that Lita couldn't see. "Sweet dreams kiddo." Lita said softly.

Almost as though Lita had known, Buffy dreamed, lost in her mind, standing stationary as images flitted by, memories blinking all around, disorienting her, and she reached out for something solid to hold on to.

"Buffy, where are we? I feel like I haven't seen you in months." Angel reached out to touch her arm.

"You're hurt. Who did this to you?" Then he looked around at the inside of the mansion. "What's happening, Buffy?"

"Shhh, it doesn't matter." She told him, and then reached up to kiss him, still clutching the sword tightly in her hand. "I love you."

"I love you..." He answered, then Buffy spoke again quickly.

"Close your eyes." She kissed him again when he complied, then pulled away, and stabbed the sword through his belly, into the vortex, which began to close.

"I could have loved you, I did love you." He snarled at her.

"Please, Angel no. I'm sorry." She pleaded with him. "I love you."

"We were supposed to be FOREVER!" His face contorted into a mask of pain and rage while she watched, and then blood blossomed on his shirt, and covered his hands and arms.

"Angel, Angel, ANGEL!!!!!" She screamed as he pulled the blade out and stabbed her with it in return.

"Was it good for you too?" He asked, not Angel, but Angelus advancing on her, sword in hand, while she was weaponless.

"ANGEL!!!" She screamed one last time.

"Elizabeth, Elizabeth, wake up!" Someone shook her hard, forcing her back to consciousness.

"What's going on?" She asked, sounding groggy and confused.

"You were dreaming." Trish told her. "Are you okay?"

"That wasn't a dream." Lita shook her head. "It was a nightmare."

"Who's Angel?" Stacy asked, dropping down to her eye level.

"Angel?" Buffy looked at them confused.

"You were screaming it out, over and over again." Stacy told her. "Are you okay?"

"It was just a memory." Buffy shook her head.

"What did you say?" John asked.

"It was just a nightmare." Buffy repeated.

"No, you said it was a memory."

"Maybe a little of both." Buffy conceded. "But it's not a pleasant memory."

"Don't worry about it." Lita told her. "We're here now, and nothing can hurt you."


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: It's been so long since I updated this story. I don't know why, I have stacks of it written. Thanks to Storyfreak0083 for even reminding me that I had this story up.

Thanks,

Samantha

********

"No, there's that hesitation again." Chris called out, stopping her in motion. "Stop hesitating."

"Rob wasn't in the right position." Buffy answered. "I didn't want him to get hurt."

"You shouldn't be afraid to go onto the next move." Chris told her. "Just do it."

"Plus, how can I perform properly if he's not in the right position." Buffy continued.

"Don't be afraid of the motion." He pressed, almost as though he was ignoring her.

"You people don't know what fear is." Buffy shook her head, becoming a little annoyed with him.

"What was that?"

"I said you people don't know what fear is." Buffy repeated. "Fear is the thoughts that run through your mind when you realise that there's nothing else. It's just you. There's no friends, no weapons, no hope. That's fear. It's that millisecond before you take control again, and realise that your fear is just your mind's way of saying 'be careful'."

"So what happens after that?" Lita asked.

"If you're me?" Buffy asked. "You say screw it, and do it anyway. The things that I fear are generally the things I have to face."

"Do me a favor." Jeff told her. "See that ladder." He pointed to the one he and Matt had been training with earlier. "I want you to climb to the top, and just stay there a minute then tell us how you feel."

Sighing Buffy nodded, climbing the ladder and surprising everyone by standing on the top of the ladder, like she was about to jump off.

"So am I supposed to be feeling anything in particular?" She called to the others.

"Just whatever's going through your mind."

"I feel a little stupid."

"And?" Jeff asked. "What else?"

"I don't know, relaxed."

"You feel relaxed standing at the top of a twenty foot painter's ladder?" Lita sounded a little shocked.

'There's a lot of space up here. I like that."

"She's crazy." Buffy heard Jericho say from the floor.

"I spent the last three or so years being told that I'm not like other girls, and I've come to the realisation that it's true. I'm not like other girls. I'm not afraid of the bogeyman in the closet, or the scary man who tries to follow me home at night. The streets I walked as a child felt darker, colder when I went back to see if they were what I remembered. The birds didn't sing as happily, and the eyes that I had never noticed when I was younger looked at nothing but me, their gaze completely unwavering. For a few minutes I thought that the world had changed, then I thought, 'maybe it's just me.' Then I started to wonder all over again." Elizabeth looked down at them. "I'm not like other girls, so I can't understand you being a little worried about why standing on top of a twenty foot or whatever this is ladder doesn't really frighten me. The things that frighten me are dark. They're the shadows in the darkness, the nameless fears that you can't admit to yourself. Most people never know anything that they don't see with their own two eyes."

"What about you?" Jeff asked.

"I've seen the things that others don't, or won't see. Those little things that happen which you repress because you think to yourself, 'that can't have just happened. It wasn't real, I didn't see it, it was a trick of the light.' Those are the things that frighten me."

"Do these things have a name?" Jeff asked, eager for a little insight into her.

"Death." She answered. "Pain, darkness, despair, loneliness. There are other names, but those are enough for now."

*************

"How was your session?" John asked as Buffy pulled her jacket on over her sweater.

"Interesting. Chris still thinks I hesistate between moves."

"Do you?" He asked.

"I'll wait a beat for my opponent to get into position." She answered, "But that's it, I just don't want anyone to get hurt."

"Fair enough." He sat down while she pulled her boots on, watching her.

"What?"

"Nothing." He shrugged.

"Help me with this?" She handed him a silver chain with a large silver cross on it.

"This is beautiful." He told her, admiring the simple piece. "Where did you get it?"

"From Angel." Her eyes frosted over with pain for a second. "He gave it to me the first night I met him. It's an antique."

"Here." He draped the chain around her neck, and fixed the clasp. "All done. Are you ready yet?"

"Almost." She ran a brush through her hair, then slipped a silver ring onto her finger.

"From Angel?" John asked.

Buffy nodded. "He gave it to me before my birthday, when I turned seventeen. We thought that he was going to have to go away, probably for a long time, so he gave me this." She looked down at the band. "He was Irish, from a very old family. They would give a ring like this one to someone they loved. The hands are supposed to represent friendship, the crown loyalty, and the heart is love."

"Sounds nice."

"You wear it with the heart pointing towards you to show that you're taken."

As she spoke John noticed that she wore the ring inverted, so that the heart was pointing away from her. "It sounds like you loved him a lot."

"I did. I still do." She answered.

**************

"Are you okay?" John asked as they walked into the arena.

"I don't know any of the people who are going to be here." Buffy answered in a small voice.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. You know everyone from RAW, so just don't take shit from anyone, don't beat anyone up, and don't worry."

"Don't worry?" She looked at him like he was crazy.

Without speaking again John scooped her up and threw Buffy over his shoulder like a rag doll.

"Put me down you jerk!" Buffy told him, startled as he began to run, and curling her arms around the back of John's waist for security.

"What's going on in here?" Hunter asked as John raced into the meeting room, which for the moment served as a common room for everyone.

"Put me down." Buffy shrieked as John faked dropping her, then balled up her fists and started hitting him.

"John, the neanderthal look isn't a good one for you, and Elizabeth can walk, she doesn't need to be carried." Trish reprimanded the 'Doctor of Thuganomics.'

"DOWN NOW!" Buffy insisted, and John slowly lowered her to the floor, then winced as she punched him hard in the chest.  
"What was that for?" He asked, shocked.

"For being such a dumb ass, and if I didn't know your knee was still sore I'd kick you too."

"Is everything okay in here?" A short balding man asked, several SMACKDOWN superstars in tow.

Buffy didn't answer, so Hunter did for her. "It's cool, just people stuffing around."

"And who is this?" He asked, walking over to get a better look at Buffy.

"Paul, this is Elizabeth Summers. Elizabeth, this is Paul Heyman. He's the General Manager of SMACKDOWN." Hunter introduced them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He extended his hand for her to shake.

"Yeah, uh... you too. I have to go, practice or something."

"Yeah," Hunter nodded. "Steph has a message for you, come and we'll go find her." He slipped an arm around her and together they left the room.

"What was all that about?" Brock Lesnar asked, looking interested. "And who is she?"

"Her name is Elizabeth," Trish told him. "She makes her debut soon, tonight actually, against Jazz. She's a little shy around people she doesn't know."

"Elizabeth's a whole lot more relaxed when you get to know her." John told them when Trish trailed off. "And when I haven't been pissing her off, or upsetting her."

*************

"Are you lost?"

Buffy looked over towards the speaker, whom she immediately found a little intidmidating. This guy was easily seven feet tall, towering over her five feet, five inches. "Not really, you?"

"I know where I am. If you're looking for the diva's locker room it's down that hall, and take a left. Third door on the right." He gestured as he spoke.

"Why should I trust you?" She asked, sounding somewhere between apprehensive and pissed off.

"I have an honest face?" He answered, suddenly not so sure of himself, which she could see worried him.

"Call me crazy, but in my experience, honest faces are usually attached to liars, or people who want me dead." Buffy stared at him, then walked away a deep seated apprehension filling her though she wasn't sure why.

"Elizabeth, where have you been?" Lita asked as she walked into the 'common room.'.

"I had some stuff to do in the locker room, and then I detoured back to the hotel to pick up my other arm bands." She answered, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear, a clear sign of her unease.

"I was just on my way to look for you. Come and meet everyone." Lita grabbed her hand and pulled her over to where a large group of people sat talking and fooling around with hacky sacks, yoyos, a Gameboy Advance or two, and all kinds of other little toys.

"Hey hey, back already?" One of the people Buffy hadn't met asked Lita.

"I found her already." She answered. "Everyone, this is Elizabeth, Elizabeth, everyone."

"Gotcha!" John's voice exclaimed as he grabbed Buffy around the waist. She jumped, then began to relax. If John was there then she'd be fine.

"Hey John-John! We missed you since you got traded."

John punched fists with him. "It's pretty good here, but I missed some of you too." He paused and turned to Buffy. "Babe this is Eddie, Rey, Shannon, Shelton, who's coming over to RAW after tonight, Jamie, Nidia, Torrie and... Deadman."

"Elizabeth, this is the Undertaker, or Mark Calloway." Lita introduced her to someone else, the seven foot tall guy she'd met in the hall.

"It's you again." Buffy looked up into his face.

"Did you find the diva's locker room?" He asked.

"I told you people with honest faces were generally liars." She answered. "I should go and find Jazz, we have a little more match preparation to do."

"Wait on a couple of minutes." One of the SMACKDOWN guys grabbed her by the hand, halting her movement and just staring into her face.

"Let me guess, you know my face?" Buffy asked him.

"No..." He said slowly. "Your eyes... I feel like I've seen them before."

"Give me strength." She told him, shaking her head.

"I'm serious." He shook her a little. "Have we met before?"

"I don't think so." Buffy took a step backwards, cleary wary of him, again brushing a non-existant lock of hair away from her face.

"Dude, back off." John told him, noting Elizabeth's wary stance. "She said she doesn't know you."

"Is Elizabeth your real name?" He asked.

"Yes, now please excuse me."

"Hang around for a bit." Trish told her, squeezing Buffy's shoulder.

"I can't." Buffy shook her head.

"Okay babe, stay out of trouble." John told her, clearly telling the others to just let her go.

She managed a smile. "I can't help it if trouble finds me."

"So what just happened then?" Eddie asked, looking after Buffy as she walked away.

Lita smacked Shannon around the head. "You just freaked her out."

"What? I've seen her eyes before." He defended himself.

"Elizabeth is seventeen years old." Trish began to explain. "She ran away from home because she was unhappy. We're finally getting her to trust us all."

"Speak for yourself." John corrected her. "She trusts me."

"Only seventeen." Shannon shook his head. "I can't help feeling that I know her somehow."

"Rey, you might be interested in training her." Jeff told the smaller man. "That girl has no fear."

"How do you know?" Rey asked.

"She stood on the very top of a twenty foot ladder, and then told us that she was comfortable." Jericho explained. "The girl is going to be a flyer." Jeff nodded. "She's willing to consider things that not even I will consider."

"Sounds interesting." Eddie nodded. "And she's making her debut with Jazz? Are they trying to get her killed?"

"Believe me, she can take Jazz on." Chris answered him. "She's an amazing competitor."

"She can do it in the air, and still pull it off on the mat?" Shannon asked.

"Yeah." Matt nodded, "She's got an amazing style too, I mean she's been training with Chris, Rob, Jeff, Lita and I. Trish, and any of the others is happy to get in the ring with her, but then she came to us with her own style, so she's really unpredictable."

"Yeah." Jeff nodded, "She can pull moves out of thin air."

"Sounds interesting then."

***********

"Okay," John began, "Are you sure you're okay with this, I mean if you want, someone can go out there with you."

"I think I'll be okay." Buffy nodded, adjusting her wrist guards.

"And you know that if you have any problems out there, just tell Jazz, and she'll help you out." John reminded her. "Don't be afraid of making mistakes, we make them all the time, but you have you remember to have contact with Jazz to let her know what's going on..."

"But don't worry, you rehearsed this." She finished, mimicking him. "John, I'm going to be fine. Yes, Jazz and I went over this, and yes I'm a little nervous, but I'm not worried John okay? I'm not going to be out there alone, and I can handle myself, and anything that might just go wrong out there."

"Just come back in one piece." He told her, putting both hands on the sides of her face.

"Promise."

"And Lizzie?"

"Yeah?"

"Have fun, out there." John finished.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Here you go, another update. Never know, I might actually finish this story.

Let me know what you think,

Samantha

**************

"Finally we have some off time!" John exclaimed dropping down beside Buffy. "Hey do you want to come home with me? You can't just stay on the road. There has to be some place where you can just go, and say 'this is it,' you know, 'this is the place I can come back too.' You need to have somewhere you call home."

Buffy nodded slowly. "But won't your parents be upset if you just bring home this seventeen year old runaway you met in Los Angeles?"  
"No Lizzie, they won't." John shook his head. "They're actually dying to meet you. You know they haven't even met you, but they think of you like a daughter."

"I don't know what I did to deserve a friend like you." She reached out suddenly and hugged him tightly.

"You're a good person babe, even if you don't realise it. You didn't have to do anything to deserve a good friend."

*************

"Come on babe, wake up."

Buffy eyed him sleepily. "For real?"

"Yeah, for real, we're at my parent's place." John told her.

Buffy sat up and yawned, then pulled the rearview mirror around so that she could check her appearance.

"You look fine, come on." He prodded her, getting out, then walking around to her car door and opening it.

She rolled her eyes at him and stood up, grabbing her purse before John could shut the door. He threw one arm around her shoulders as they walked up to the front door.

He knocked loudly, then as he led Buffy inside, he called out, "The franchise is in the house!"

"John!" A middle aged woman appeared in front of them, reaching out to hug John. "We've been waiting for you." She turned to Buffy. "You must be Elizabeth."

Buffy nodded, but before she could speak, the woman hugged her too.  
"It's nice to finally meet you. John's told us a lot about you. Now come on through, everyone's waiting out in the back yard."

"Everyone?" John asked.

"Your brothers, and your dad." She explained, "Now come on, you both have to be hungry." Mrs. Cena slipped an arm around both of them.

"You know mom, we're both tired out, I mean we've been working hard, especially Elizabeth."

"It's good for you." She smiled as they walked out onto a deck, "Everyone, look who's here!"

Buffy nearly died when she saw how many people there were.

"You okay?" John asked quietly in her ear.

"Just... awed I guess." She answered.

"Come sit, everyone's pretty nice, but if they give you shit, let me know and I'll beat 'em up." He chuckled, then called out to everyone else. "Everyone, this is Elizabeth. Be nice. Babe that's my dad, my brothers, my grandma and a couple of other people, but don't worry about them. You got the franchise."

"So Elizabeth, where are you from?" John's father asked, "If you don't want to answer, that's okay."

"It's all right." Buffy told him. "I'm from California, just wasn't very happy where I was, so I left."

"Sounds crazy." One of the younger guys told her.

"Sean, behave." John told him, smacking him in the back of the head.

"I didn't really get along well with either of my parents. My dad was of the opinion that if he didn't want to see me he didn't have to. He even went as far as telling me that I caused him and my mom to divorce. Mom and I didn't get along because I wasn't the daughter she wanted. She wanted someone who was good at school, and who would sit upstairs and gossip on the phone, or paint their nails. I never had time for that."

"Elizabeth is an awesome competitor." John told the others. "First time we saw her in action she made Rob Van Dam give, then kicked Hunter's ass."

"Really?" John's mother sort of looked at her.

"When I was a little girl I dropped out of ballet to do gymnastics and tae kwon do. I'm only training to be a wrestler now." Buffy explained a little further. "I'm actually the personal trainer on RAW." She brushed several strands of hair away from her face, feeling a little self-conscious.

"You're so young though." The older Mrs. Cena told her.

"She's an old seventeen." John told them. "All the girls love her, and all the guys try to take care of her."

"So, no offence but why are you here? I mean, why with John?"  
"Because he's my best friend." Buffy answered. "And..."

"I remind you of your ex-boyfriend?" John teased her.

"No, you act like you're a lot closer to my age than you realise." She teased him back, giving him a shove.

"Finally someone who isn't completely floored by you." Mr. Cena chuckled.

"He's alright." Buffy smiled. "A bit of a thug, but he's all soft."

"It's nice to have you here Elizabeth." Mrs. Cena told her. "We need a little more balance around here."

"You'd be about my age." One of the guys said to her. "I'm Jay."

"What are you doing about school Elizabeth?" Mrs. Cena asked.

"I haven't really thought about it, I mean the last school I was at, I kind of got expelled." She looked around a little nervously.

"For real?" Sean and Jay stared at her, half shocked and half in awe.

"It wasn't completely my fault." Buffy explained. "And it's part of a long story, so the short version of everything is that while I went out to pick up some coffee and snacks, all my friends, who I was pulling a late night study session with, were attacked in the high school library, by a gang. There were a lot of those where I lived, most of them on PCP. By the time I got back there, she was just lying there in a pool of blood, Willow had a bookcase pulled down on her, and Xander was unconscious on the stairs. Before I could do anything the police arrived, I guess someone had called them. They thought that I had done it all, hurt and killed my friends, so instead of sticking around, I ran. I was just so scared. I snuck into the hospital later on, and Xander was okay, he had a broken arm but he was fine. He was able to tell the police that I didn't do it, but for my high school principal, who was a bigoted little rodent that wasn't good enough so he expelled me."

"That's terrible." Mr. Cena looked shocked.

"My mom wasn't too happy either. We had a huge argument, and I left because of it." Buffy finished.

"But you're just fine now." John told her, as if to remind her.

"I know." She said softly.

*************


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Hi again, another update. I know this one's short. It's kind of a bridging chapter. Thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate them.

I promise to update again soon.

Samantha.

"Hey Lizzie." Jeff greeted her as he entered their hotel suite. "We weren't expecting you for a while yet."

"John and I got in early. He's gone to see some of the other guys. I felt like some quiet time." She answered, focussed on the sketchpad in her lap.

"What are you doing down there?" He asked, referring to her position, sitting on the floor in the corner of the room, and leaning up against the wall. "Wouldn't you be more comfortable on the couch?"

"I felt like sitting down here." Buffy told him.

"Hey Jeff, can you put your stuff in your room before Elizabeth gets here…" Matt began as he walked in, almost tripping on Jeff's bags and saw her sitting there. "Hey little bit, we…"

"Weren't expecting me for a while yet?" Buffy answered, then smiled. "Jeff said, and don't be mad at him, I think some of that stuff there is mine."

"Most of it's Jeff's stuff." Matt smiled at her.

"Matt," Lita's voice called from the hallway, "Can you come give me a hand?"

"Sure babe." Matt answered, "Behave yourselves, you two. I'll be back in a minute."

"So, did you miss us?" Jeff asked, leaving his bags exactly where he had tossed them.

Buffy looked up and smiled, "I did. I really missed you guys. It feels good to back. Being here with you guys feels normal."

"I'm glad you feel like you fit in with us." He answered.

"Don't get me wrong, John's family is great. They made me feel like one of the family, but I don't really know them yet."

"It'll get better as you spend more time there." Jeff reassured.

"I know, it's just new, and different. They're such a close-knit, supportive family. I'm not used to that." She dropped her eyes back to the sketchpad, completely focussed on it. Jeff sat there staring at her for a couple of moments.

"What are you doing?" Jeff asked, peeking around at the sketchpad Elizabeth was working on, the heavy pad resting against her knees, her back against the wall.

She didn't answer, completely focused on the paper in front of her.

"Elizabeth?" He asked again, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

She started. "Jeff you scared me."

"What are you doing?" He asked again.

"Drawing." She wrinkled her brow in confusion.

"Wow." He turned the sketchpad around to face him. A human face stared back at him, drawn simply in grey lead pencil. "Elizabeth this is great."

"Really?" She asked, leaning over to look at the sketch properly herself.

"I didn't know you could draw so well."

"Me either." Buffy shrugged. "That's Angel."

"Angel? As in your ex-boyfriend Angel?" Jeff asked.

She nodded. "It's exactly as I remember him."

"He seems so... soulful."

Buffy smiled at his choice of words. "That's exactly how I would describe him. Soulful."

"Matt said you were back already. What are you two up to?" Lita asked, walking into the room with Trish, Stacy, Rob and Chris.

"Elizabeth was just showing me her drawing." Jeff told them, holding the sketchpad up.

"That's really good." Rob told her. "Where did you learn to draw like that?"

"I don't know." Buffy answered. "I just started doing it."

"So do we know this guy?" Stacy asked, "Because he is way hot."

"My ex-boyfriend." Buffy told her. "This is how I remember him."

"Without a smile?" Trish asked.

"With Angel a smile was as rare as a double rainbow, and twice as precious." She smiled wistfully. "No, that's how I remember him, just as Angel."

"It's beautiful." Lita told her. "Why don't you sign it?"

Buffy shrugged and used her pencil to sign the artwork, a quick, almost illegible scrawl, and then the date.

"So where are you going to put it?" Trish asked.

"I think I'll just leave it right where it is." Buffy told her. "Some things aren't supposed to be constant reminders. Angel's dead now, he can stay right here." She closed the sketchbook.

"Some things are meant to stay in the back of your mind." Lita nodded.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Sorry about the time between updates, I've been crazy busy with uni, work and tutoring. Hopefully the next one will be faster, but don't hold your breath...

Samantha

**************

"Oh, damn, that was gruelling." Lita groaned as she flopped down on a bench in their locker room.

"It was fun." Buffy smiled, her face and arms slick with sweat.

"Only you could say that." Trish shook her head. "Did you pin any of the guys this time?"

Buffy shrugged. "I figure they need to get some of their self esteem back, and anyway, the night's still young."

Lita threw a sweaty towel at her. "Speaking of night, isn't John taking you to the movies tonight?"

"Yeah," She grinned, "We've both been so busy lately that we haven't had much time to just hang out, so dinner and a movie."

"That sounds a lot like a date to me." Victoria said towelling off her hair.

"It's not a date." Buffy responded.

"Don't get all defensive." Victoria told her, "It's not like that's a bad thing. John's a nice guy. He's even cuddlier since you came on the scene."

"It's not a date." Buffy repeated. "I don't see him like that. He's funny and sweet and goofy. He's my best friend. I wouldn't wreck that even if I did like him that way. He deserves more."

"More than you?" Lita sat up.

"Yeah, he deserves someone better. Someone without a whole bunch of issues."

"Unfortunately sweetie sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants, and there's nothing you can do about it." Trish patted her shoulder. "But I don't think you need to worry. I don't think he'd ever ask you to go there. I think he cares about you too much to ever want to hurt you." Trish gave her a sad little smile.

"She's right." Lita nodded. "He'd never do anything if he thought it would upset you. Now you should go get in the shower and get ready."

"Thanks guys." Buffy flashed them a quick smile, then grabbed her towels and rummaged around in the mess for a change of clothes and made for the showers.

"Sometimes I worry about that girl." Lita confided in the others. "She's only seventeen but she acts so much older. I worry that she's going to miss out on things." "Boys." Trish nodded.

"Not just that." Lita answered, "All of the other stuff too. All of the moments that make up who you are when you're a teenager. The moments that make you who you are as an adult. The parties, the friendships, even the little moments where you take a silly risk. She doesn't do any of that."

"Give her time." Gail told them, "It's almost like she's working backwards. You know, the more time she spends with us, the younger she acts. I think she just needs to feel comfortable that everyone will still accept her when she completely regresses to being seventeen."

"I love the SMACKDOWN girls, don't get me wrong, but I love that it's just us again." Trish said suddenly.

"And where did that come from?" Victoria asked, looking amused.

"I was just thinking about it. I love it when it's just us. I know all of you in a way that I don't really know the SMACKDOWN girls anymore. I feel like we're closer here."

"More like sisters?" Lita asked.

"Yeah." Trish nodded. "I like knowing that I can count on you guys. That if I need something, or someone, you are all here for me. We're here for each other. I guess it makes being on the road so long, not so lonely."

"Aww, a tear." Victoria chuckled. "I know what you mean though."

"So, group hug?" Trish asked.

"Elizabeth's in the shower." Gail pointed out.

"And Lita kinda smells." Victoria added.

"I do not smell." Lita sat up straight.

"Hey Lizzie, hurry up in there! Lita smells!" Victoria called out.

"I do not smell!" Lita glared at her, then looked at Trish. "Do I smell?"

"Only a little." Trish allowed.

"I smell?"

"You did just finish a huge workout." Gail pointed out.

Gingerly Lita raised one arm and sniffed, and then turned to the others, "I do smell. I smell. I'm the smelly girl."

Trish laughed. "If it helps, you don't smell that bad. Kind of sweaty, with perfume mixed in."

Gail and Victoria began to giggle. "She smells like sweaty perfume."

At this comment even Lita had to laugh, and when Elizabeth came out of the bathroom, still towelling her hair off, they were still giggling.

"You look nice." Trish told Buffy. "A little too biker babe for my tastes, but nice."

Buffy looked down at her black pants, boots, and white tank top. "You think I should wear something else?"

"No, I think it'll look fine."

"Are you taking a jacket?" Lita asked, "Because it will get cold later."

"Yeah," Buffy nodded, and then grimaced. "Any chance you could help me find it underneath all this mess?"

"Uh," Trish surveyed the room. "We'll try." The four women looked around at the mess for a moment. Clothes covered every surface, and a good portion of the floor. Cosmetics and hair accessories mixed in with all of the clothes, and shoes littered the room. "It looks like the only thing in this room that's where it should be is the wet towels." Victoria shook her head. "I guess we should get started."

"Damn it to hell!" Several shoes flew across the room. "Where in hell is my black leather jacket?" Buffy shouted, throwing a pile of clothes back into her bag.

"What's the matter?" Stacy asked as she entered the locker room.

"I can't find my black leather jacket, and I wanted to wear it tonight." Buffy answered, still shifting stuff, looking for it.

"We've been searching for ages." Trish added. "How did we make so much mess?"

"Well, there was a slight clothing fight between me and Molly and a couple of the other girls." Stacy admitted, as she looked around the room at the carnage. "But I didn't think it was this bad."

Buffy stopped shoving clothes aside and stared at her. "You had a clothing fight?"

"Sorry?" Stacy began, "I'll help clean up."

"You're slowly digging yourself out of the hole." Victoria told her.

"Do you remember where you had it last?" Lita asked.

"If I remembered that would I still be looking for it?" Buffy asked, dropping a handful of stuff onto the floor. "I know it's in here somewhere."

"Calm down." Stacy told her. "All we have to do is clean up a bit, and if it's in here, we'll find it."

"If it's in here?" Buffy asked, "It has to be in here!"

"Let's just start cleaning up." Lita placated her, walking over to the door. "Trish, Tor, let's get it done, we need all the help we can get." She shouted into the hall.

"So do we know exactly what is going on?" Victoria asked as she and Trish walked into the room.

"Elizabeth is having jacket issues." Stacy repeated. "We know that her black leather jacket is in here somewhere, but we need to clean up so that we can find it." She planned.

"Not a problem. If we work together we should be able to find it in no time." Trish nodded, ever positive.

Together the five women began tidying up, hanging clothes in lockers, stacking sports bags underneath the benches, and putting make up bags, curling and straightening irons on the shelves.

"What are you guys doing?" Molly walked in, Gail and Jazz not far behind her.

"We're looking for my jacket." Buffy told her. "Have you seen it?"

"No." Molly shook her head.

"Why in hell do you have your stuff thrown everywhere?" Lita asked the brunette. "Because it's making it incredibly impossible to find anything other than your crap."

"My stuff is not crap." Molly shot back, "I just need more space than any of you, since my luggage doesn't consist mainly of bras and thongs."

"You make it sound like we're all whores." Stacy said to her. "Which is not true, geez Molly, have a little respect for other people."

"Why should I? I'm the Women's Champion."

"Champion pain in my ass is more like it." Buffy said, shaking her head as she moved a handful more stuff, just dropping it on the floor.

"That's mine!" Molly exclaimed, snatching the discarded clothing up.

"Then what in blue hell is it doing mixed in with my stuff?" Buffy asked, "Because at the moment I can't find barely anything of mine, and I'm still looking for my black leather jacket, which is somewhere in this godforsaken mess!"

"And you think it's my fault?" Molly asked.

"Well I'm not the one who threw my stuff all over the room so that no one else can find their stuff." Buffy snapped at her.  
"Ladies, what's going on?" Steve Austin walked in, flanked by Eric Bischoff. "And what in hell happened in here? It looks like a bomb went through."

"We're having jacket drama." Victoria answered him.

"Tor's right." Trish nodded. "Elizabeth can't find her jacket, so we started cleaning up, but it's virtually impossible with Molly trying to take over the entire locker room, and the earlier clothing fight."

"What?" Eric asked.

"We can't find anything because Molly's stuff is absolutely everywhere." Lita explained. "We're never going to be able to find anything. I haven't even seen my combat boots yet, and I know that I brought them with me."

"It's not my fault that as the Women's Champion, I have more stuff than everyone else." Molly defended herself. "I should be given more space."

"You should be given more knocks to the head." Buffy muttered. "It might make you normal."

Everyone else chuckled at her comment.

"And have you ever been the Women's Champion Elizabeth?" Molly taunted her.

"I've never needed to be it." Buffy answered, being a complete smart ass. "But I think I'm changing my mind."

"I'm not wrestling you for it." Molly shook her head, fearful. She knew that if Elizabeth was given a title shot, she'd lose the belt.

"I don't care." Buffy told her, "But if you don't start cleaning up your stuff, we're going to have a little wrestling match right here in the locker room." Her eyes smouldered, clearly pissed off. "I'll be back in half an hour. I expect to see my jacket sitting on top of that bench when I get back." She turned and stomped out of the room.

"That is not a happy camper." Trish shook her head. "Mol, you better start cleaning, because if it's not sitting where she said when she gets back, there's going to be absolute hell to pay."

"What's the matter?" John asked as Buffy opened the door to the guys locker room.

"I just got into a fight and threatened to kick someone's ass."

"So why don't you look happy about it?" Rob asked.

"I can't find my black leather jacket." She burst into tears.

"It's just a jacket." John placated her. "I'll buy you a new one if that helps."

"It's not just a jacket." She sobbed, throwing both arms around him. "Angel gave it to me, and it's my favourite thing that I own."

"The girls will find it." Rob told her. "It's no big deal."  
"Only if Molly gets off her fat ass and cleans up all the crap she's thrown everywhere." She sniffed as John wiped several tears from her cheeks. "I really want my jacket back. It's got my ring and necklace in the pocket."

"Oh." John nodded in understanding. "Do you want me to come and help find it?"

"I just want my jewellery back safely." She curled up next to him.

"Come on." John told her. "Let's go get some coffee or something."

"What if they couldn't find it?" Buffy asked, half panicked as they walked towards the diva's locker room.

"I'm sure that they have." John placated her. "And if they haven't, no one's leaving this arena until we do find it."

She nodded as they walked into the diva's locker room.

"Ladies, how did we go on the great jacket hunt?" John asked as they walked into the room.

"We found it." Lita told her. "It was under a pile of stuff, but we found it."

Buffy pounced on the jacket, putting one hand in the pocket and fishing out both her cross and her ring. "Maybe there is a God after all."

"I told you they'd find it babe." John said to her.

"Thanks guys." Buffy said to them. "I really appreciate it."

"I'm sorry about before." Molly said to her. "I guess we're all still learning to live with each other."

Buffy just shrugged and slid her jacket on. "I think we should put a permanent hold on clothing fights."

'I'll second that." Lita nodded. "I still can't find one of my boots."

John wrapped his arm around Buffy and gave her a grin. "How about that movie?"

She smiled. "I'm thinking after all this drama, we should see a comedy."


End file.
